


Something Old

by Thebiwife



Series: Something... [1]
Category: ER (TV 1994)
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Day of the New Job, Gen, Out of character four letter words - Freeform, Post-Divorce, Post-Season/Series 01, Pre-Canon, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27922750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thebiwife/pseuds/Thebiwife
Summary: Takes place just before we first meet Dr. Weaver in 2x01 and follows her from there.Inspired by the ‘Something Old / Something New / Something Borrowed / Something Blue” wedding tradition.
Relationships: Kerry Weaver/Original Character
Series: Something... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937212
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Love is Loss and Loss is Love: A Brief History of Kerry Weaver’s First Marriage](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27878118) by [Kam14](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kam14/pseuds/Kam14). 



Kerry Weaver was getting ready for her first day on the job at County General, Chicago. Well, the first day meeting her supervisor, a Dr. Greene, who left her a message on her machine in response to her application. To Kerry, it seemed the rest would just fall into place from here; one year left of Residency as Chief Resident, then tons of potential to become Attending in a year, tenure would be in easy reach a few years after that…

County was much better located than Mt. Sinai - Kerry had taken to booking the Hyatt up the road by Rush, 5 minutes’ drive away, when she was on call, not one to sleep in spare exam room if she could help it - but since moving into her new place after she split with her husband Daniel, which happened to be less than a five minute _walk_ from County, on the near north side, she had been putting all of her eggs in one basket, so to speak.

The apartment was small-ish and dark, and she could surely afford much better if she were willing to invest her inheritance, but since the divorce had been finalized and the estate divided up between them, Kerry’s first priority had been to get away - from Daniel, from Mt. Sinai, from anywhere she figured she may run into him. Afterall, he rarely left the leafy western suburbs and short-ish commute into the Illinois Medical District; Kerry had hardly expected to bump into him on West Chicago Avenue, nor did she feel their abrupt ending should be allowed to push her from one of the two places in this country that had ever felt like home, the least painful of the two at that.

As she got ready to head into County, not sure if it was presumptuous or not to bring a lab coat with her - _surely they would provide one? Mt. Sinai had - although that had been at the start of a residency programme, not a final-year transfer…_ things almost felt back to normal, like the old routine Kerry had got into since her first day on ER rotation, hair tied back out of her face, contact lenses in, jewelry off, except for her watch and the one necklace she allowed herself, that had until very recently been her engagement and wedding ring on a silver chain.

 _Fuck it_ , Kerry thought, not something that often crossed her mind...she put a pair of pearl earrings back in, and a long necklace with equi-spaced beads. Taking the lab coat out of her bag, she instead put her dark pink sweater vest over her blouse, and putting her hair back down, running a brush through it so the kink in her thick red hair dissipated. She picked up a brown envelope, which contained both her engagement and wedding rings, and Daniel’s wedding band too, something he’d asked her to take care of - whether it be through pain or malice, he had no longer wanted to keep hold of it. 

Just before leaving, she checked the Harry Winston valuation slip was also inside the envelope, and checked her watch to make sure she had time to pop into the jewelry store before she headed to County. She had plenty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks Kam for helping me fill the gaps!


	2. Chapter 2

It had taken longer than Kerry was happy with for Mark Greene to get back to her with an official job offer and start date. It  _ could _ just have been a case of her being incredibly organised (and as a result, impatient) but since she had already finished the third year residency at Mt. Sinai, she wasn’t going to stick around  _ there  _ any longer than she needed to once she had the official offer on the table from County.

The party line, if Kerry was ever asked, was always that her belief in the County system overrides her loyalty to the hospital that had been her “home” for the last three years. Under no circumstances would she disclose anything about her private life,  her relationships with her colleagues at Mt. Sinai, and anything that wasn’t a means to an end for their job, which was ultimately, saving lives and little else. 

She did, however, do a half decent job learning people’s names and making notes about them in her journal once she arrived home at the end of her first day.  Exhibit a) Doug Ross. Already managed to upset him by palming off each and every case of his to junior residents all over the hospital, as much as Kerry would  _ love _ to remind him that this was  _ their job  _ and his boy’s club connections wouldn’t get him anywhere, especially not with her (as she often would when they’d crossed paths in her earlier years of residency).

Exhibit b) was Susan Lewis. Pretty understated third-year resident, (or was that pretty  _ comma _ understated?) preoccupied with the childcare of her niece, not that Kerry cared enough to get the full story to learn why Susan had been lumbered with most of the responsibility, and Susan didn’t seem keen to volunteer any information about herself to Kerry; clearly already popular enough to have close confidants not in need of another.

One of those confidants could be c) or Carol Hathaway, nurse manager, easily mistaken for an EMT when she came wheeling in a teenage gunshot victim looking like she was straight out of a John Hughes movie (and looked pretty rad in a vest and jeans.)

'D' is for Desk Clerk Bob - nice Polish lady, junior to Jerry (emergency services coordinator) - very keen on enforcing Weaver policy and a great asset, whereas Jerry could be more of a hindrance, perhaps.

e) Peter Benton, surgical resident (former ER rotation colleague as med students), still far too fond of steamed Brussel Sprouts, (guy needs to learn to cook with fat.)

Exhibit f), John Carter, surgical intern and keen to learn, albeit easily flustered.

And of course there was Mark Greene, married father of one (to whom he was married, she didn’t quite care). While she was able to make that good impression covering for him to get his train back to Milwaukee every night, what bothered her more was how much she would be expected to pick up the slack for him.  _ Without _ the due praise.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> retelling of 2x04

You would think that being mocked and imitated by Doug Ross with a Golf Club would have been the worst part of Kerry Weaver's day. 

When Morgenstern had first approached Kerry Weaver about the Chief Resident job, he implied that Mark could do with some help in the areas he was the weakest; paperwork and people management being the primary areas. This became evident over the course of her first few shifts, although it's safe to say Mark didn't lack in areas where Kerry did; humility, empathy, and knowing when he'd done wrong. The people management, of course, is twofold; the authoritative disciplinarian style of Dr. Weaver and the paternalistic mentoring of Mark Greene set them further apart. The attending was ecstatic when this meant that Kerry would take the lead with patients threatening to sue or desk clerks showing up in inappropriate attire, but he drew the line at berating a resident, and close friend, in front of a patient, a nurse and three or four other people no less.

Kerry had known that things were going to come to a head with Susan Lewis; since earlier in the week an intended olive branch had been snubbed (who doesn't respond well to talking about cute babies?), so it felt all but natural that her anger at the resident laughing along with her colleagues at her expense had gotten the better of her. Her outburst at Lewis was definitely not the most tactful of choices for her, and frankly, when Mark highlighted this to her in the lounge later that day, a familiar feeling of shame overwhelmed her that went far beyond the feelings of embarrassment and ridicule she was more than used to feeling. Over the years, kids, teenagers, and adults alike; colleagues, patients and so-called friends, all of them had let jokes, or comments, slip in front of her that reminded her one of the few truths she had carried with her, _people are cruel and cannot be trusted_.

Mark taking the blame? Wow. Saying he should back Kerry up had been all she needed from him, especially when his two closest friends and colleagues had been the ones causing her the most grief. Their tails-between-their-legs apology, half-assed at best, was as lukewarm her acceptance. What more could be expected when her own shortcomings had been so plainly underlined by her superior? Kerry was going to have to learn how to work with people.

Kerry left the County ER that day with new found respect for Mark Greene, no change of opinion of _Doug Ross_ , but there still remained a question mark over Susan Lewis. Could she ever trust her again?


End file.
